Monday, 14 April 2014

Five reasons why energy bills are so high – and still rising http://www.energy-broker.co.uk/five-reasons-why-energy-bills-are-so-high-and-still-rising/

We’re spending more and more on energy with no end in sight, regardless of what shade of green we plan for our future. Can we do anything about it? Gas prices are not easy to control, but politicians do set energy taxes and levies, and decide on how investment in low-carbon power generation, the power grid and energy efficiency is spent.

Understanding what makes up our energy bills is key to holding politicians and energy providers to account. Here are the five reasons your gas bills are high and rising.

1. High gas prices

“In the last 10 years, commodity prices are probably the single biggest thing that has affected energy bills in the UK,” says energy consultant Matt Brown. Most of the money households fork out for energy is spent on gas for heating, some 60%. But in the UK’s gas-driven power sector, the gas price has also become the main driver of the electricity price.

Energy bills have gone up as the UK shifted from being a net exporter to a net importer of gas in the last decade, and gas prices rose in tandem with oil prices. The two fuels are typically drilled for together and their prices remain closely linked, despite Brussels’ efforts to create more of an open market for gas.